Introduction

I have quite a large number of cameras and I think it would be fair to say that although most are all functional and reliable bits of kit, they are not particularly exciting! Security cameras are not designed to be particularly thrilling, as they are chiefly designed to be setup-and-forget pieces of equipment that are on 24×7 and rarely thought of outside of when you need to review surveillance footage live/archived. Now, why am I starting a review about an IP camera with such a low-key intro? Well, because the Reolink CX410 camera MIGHT be the first surveillance camera that I actually find GENUINELY interesting! It features a new color night vision mode called ColorX, which can display natural colors in recordings or livestream even in the dark without additional light. It is the first model in the manufacturer’s new ColorX camera series, all of which are said to offer the new color night vision mode. It features an f/1.0 aperture and a 1/1.8″ image sensor with 4 megapixels. The Reolink CX410 offers 2K resolution video at 2,560 × 1,440 pixels and 30 FPS. The Reolink CX410 also features a slow-on LED auxiliary light with a warm color temperature of 3000 Kelvin and 400 lumens to illuminate the filmed area if needed and deter unwanted visitors. The integrated siren can also be used for this purpose. In addition, the CX410 offers AI-based motion detection, which distinguishes between people, vehicles and animals and, depending on the settings made, sends the owner appropriate notifications with a preview image to the smartphone. The CX410 uses Power over Ethernet (PoE) for power and network connectivity, so it can be powered by a single cable. Alternatively, a 12-volt DC power connector can be used. For continuous video recording, the camera can be connected to a network video recorder (NVR). Alternatively, recordings can be stored on a microSD card in the camera or uploaded to an FTP server. The CX410 offers two-way audio for talking to people in front of the camera. It is IP66 rated against dust and water and operates in temperatures between -10 °C and 50 °C.



With support for Google Assistant and soon Amazon Alexa, the video image can be displayed on smart displays via voice command. Sounds good and interesting! Especially since the Reolink CX410 does not cost more than $95.




Packaging & Contents

The packing box is made of a cardboard box and it comes in a blue/white design. The retail box for the Reolink CX410 is surprisingly small/compact. The box is covered in Reolink livery (something the brand has definitely stepped up on in recent years). The front side of the box has Reolink's logo printed on the top left side with CX410 name on the right. There is a picture of the cam on the main section.



The back side of the box has the specifications.



The left side of the box has the product's brief. It is printed in 5 different languages.



The 2-year limited warranty is highlighted at the right side.



Every Reolink camera I have reviewed has come very well-protected and the CX410 is no exception. Inside, the appliance itself is protected by huge foam spacers, and is also wrapped in a thick plastic bag.



This indoor/outdoor security camera comes with the following parts and accessories:
1 metre blue Cat 6 ethernet cable.



Screws and drywall anchors for easy mounting.



Adhesive CCTV stickers.



The package includes a mounting template, so you know where to drill your holes. Just put the template where you want the camera, use a pencil to fill in the dots, and drill away.



Reolink provides a waterproof lid to protect the network or power cable from external damage.



Waterproof lid installation guide.



Quick start guide.






A Closer Look

The CX410 is a bullet-style camera and has a boxy-look. It has a metallic body. It’s slightly tapered towards the end, and has a decorative band around the outside. The fit and finish is very good and as with other Reolink cameras I have reviewed, it feels like a camera that is far more expensive than it is.



This camera has a weather-resistance rating of IP66. The first 6 is a measurement of dust-resistance, and it’s the highest rating available. Even the tiniest particles can’t infiltrate the housing, so dry conditions are not a concern. The second 6 defines the camera’s water-resistance level. The camera works perfectly fine even when it’s raining or snowing due to its weatherproof housing. It can operate both indoors and outdoors at a temperature between 14° and 122° Fahrenheit and 10% to 90% humidity. Just in front of the band, there’s a blue Reolink imprint on both sides.



The camera attaches to the base via a metal ball joint, which can be tilted downwards if need be. Be aware, though, that it doesn’t pivot from side to side. Make sure you like where the camera is pointed before you actually mount it. The CX410 uses a large rotating locking ring at the base of the camera. Once it is in the desired position, simply twist the ring back down and it holds its position.



All the cabling comes out of the base and can go conveniently into a junction box or through the wall. As usual with Reolink cameras, the cabling consists of a pigtail with the following connectors:
RJ-45 ethernet port
12V power input jack
A reset push button
The reset button of the CX410 is not on the main body of the camera. Apart from eliminating an ingress point, it means nobody can reset the camera unless they get to the hidden reset button which is probably inside the wall or the soffit! This is much better than many other cameras such as Hikvision’s which have the reset button externally on the camera body itself.



The back of the camera is equipped with a speaker for the two-way audio function.



The back of the camera houses the microSD card slot, secured by two screws. You can see a rubber joint around the MicroSD card slot that is meant to protect the card from rain, dust, and humidity. The way it is located means that there’s no access to the slot after installation. And that’s exactly how you want it in a security camera – a burglar shouldn’t be able to steal the microSD card easily. Make sure to install a MicroSD card before installation. You may use a 256GB micro SD card to save your videos and images. That’s enough for over 97 hours of footage. Alternatively, you can save the videos on an FTP server or connect the camera to a network video recorder (NVR).



As you might expect, the lens is located directly at the front. This area is black, with a glass cover that protects the lens and other electronics. The lens itself is fairly large, and you can see it right in the center. The black lens housing has a matte design and is super smooth to the touch. The daylight sensor is integrated into the ring-type. The built-in microphone is placed just under the lens. 4x warm LEDs arrange around the lens They can be configured in the app to automatically turn on at night when monitoring conditions below the 0.05 lux threshold. The Reolink CX410 has a 4-megapixel lens with an F/1.0 aperture and a 1/1.8″ CMOS sensor. The maximum resolution that it can reach is 2,560 x 1,440 pixels. Its signature feature, though, is its ColorX Night Vision technology.




Installation, Setup & App

The CX410 supports Power over Ethernet (PoE) which is always my recommended method to power IP cameras. Using just a single Ethernet cable, you can send both data and power to the camera. You just need a PoE switch or a PoE injector. If you want to use the included waterproofing connector, you will have to remove the RJ-45 plug on the Ethernet cable and re-crimp it once it has been passed through the waterproofing connector. My install location is sheltered from the elements, so I didn’t bother with this. Before mounting the camera, I connected it to the power and router to make sure I could add it to Reolink app, and everything works as expected. You’ll need to scan the QR code on the camera, set up a name and password, and you’ll be good to go. Great! But wait… I have the feeling I may have forgotten something… We’ll need to insert a MicroSD card to be able to store the recorded videos.



Now that we’ve made sure the camera works, we can install it. I attached it to a piece of wood. The last thing to do was to fine-tune the camera’s surveillance angle.



The Reolink setup guide for this camera suggests the first two methods – Access the camera by smartphone OR access the camera by computer. The smartphone method is great for simple network setups but will use the P2P mode of setup. Scan the QR code on the back of the camera. Create a login password and name for your camera.



Tap the product's dedicated panel to launch a live stream. Here, you get pause, mute, snapshot, video record, video quality, and full-screen buttons. Additionally, you can initiate two-way talk and view event recording thumbnails. The Reolink app provides a raft of options for customizing the camera’s operation. You can reduce the occurrence of false alarms by calibrating motion detection sensitivity, filtering detection objects by size, and creating motion detection zones for each type of object (person, pet, vehicle). You can configure auto-tracking for any or all of those same object types. You can also schedule event recording by object type and set the video clip duration to 8, 15, or 30 seconds.



Camera settings are accessible via the gear icon in the upper right corner of the screen. Here, you can check the camera’s battery level, configure display settings, set the motion sensitivity, create recording schedules, and enable push notifications and email alerts. There’s also a Time Lapse setting that lets you capture sunrises, sunsets, moving clouds, blooming flowers, and construction progress. You can create custom time-lapse scenes, too. The device works with Alexa and Google Assistant voice services, but it doesn't support Apple HomeKit or IFTTT. If you need support for third-party smart devices, the aforementioned Arlo Go 2 works with the latter platform.




The FTP Upload notification can upload to an FTP server, which makes for a great offsite backup of security footage. There are a lot of settings that you can configure for FTP, including file type (video/photo), creating subfolders by month or day, resolution, max file size, and overwriting.




Test Methology & Performance

This Reolink CX410 camera works well with low light. It's designed to show color even in dark conditions, so I put it to the test between 4 and 6 AM. (Yeah, I had to get up that early to test it out).




Yes, that's right, these screenshots was taken at 04:31 AM, and the quality is awesome considering how dark it is at this time in the morning. I didn't play with the camera settings. It's using the default configuration! Here are some other pictures of the camera in different locations....







LEDs on.



During the day, the video was, as expected great, with the colors a bit on the contrasty side, but overall, it does look very sharp and the objects are well defined even in the distance.





Final Thoughts

I decided to work on this complete review because I had a good first impression of this camera. It's an excellent product with an interesting price. The Reolink CX410 has a utilitarian design with a metal aluminum bullet-style casing. Boasting a robust IP66 rating, meaning it should be resistant to dust ingress as well as powerful jets of water, the camera runs on Power over Ethernet (PoE), a technology that uses a single ethernet cable to carry both data and the necessary electrical current to power the device. Since the signal is wired, it’s a lot more secure and difficult to hack. And because you have wired power, you don’t have to worry about constantly charging your battery. Bullet cameras are the easiest type of IP cameras to install, and Reolink makes their installation process also super easy. As far as storage goes, you’ve got a couple of options. To begin with, you can record your footage to an SD card. There’s none included in the kit, but the camera supports cards with up to 256GB capacity. That’s enough for 72.8 hours of recording, at least in theory. As new footage is recorded, it will automatically overwrite the oldest footage. And if you’ve saved any clips for future reference, they won’t be overwritten. Alternatively, you can record to a Reolink network video recorder (NVR). Reolink’s CX410 home security camera features color night vision, one of the newest–and one of the more desirable–features of modern cameras for home protection. Unlike the more common black-and-white night vision, color night vision can capture important forensic details, such as the color of an intruder’s clothes or the color of their car. But some kind of direct illumination has long required for the technology to work, typically in the form of floodlights installed outside your home or a spotlight integrated into the camera. Either type of light can overexposure the video, or the video can be distorted by light reflecting from things like car windows and license plates. Outdoor lights turning on and off at night might also tick off your neighbors, especially if the light shines into any of their own homes’ windows. Reolink’s all-new CX410 can capture clear full-color images in virtually any lighting conditions without needing any supplemental lighting at all. The camera has fairly typical specs for a modern security camera, including 2K resolution and a 127-degree field of view. It also includes onboard AI that can distinguish between activity from people, pets, and vehicles, and it will push notifications to your phone or tablet whenever these events are detected. The camera is compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant, and it offers two-way audio, along with a built-in siren to deter intruders. The Reolink app gives you full control over the CX410 security camera. Simply download it to your smartphone, laptop, or desktop PC and then use it to schedule recordings, set up motion zones, or browse saved videos. Users can also play back videos, set up 24/7 recording, and share their clips on social media. There’s a time lapse mode, which allows you to compress hours of video into just a few seconds. There’s also the smart motion sensing which is not something you regularly find at this price point. The app is compatible with both Android and iOS devices. It also works on Windows and Mac computers. All you need to do is to install it and register your device. We would have liked to see a 4K in the near future. Of note, there is no power supply included, so you will need an NVR with PoE ports, a PoE network switch or a POE injector if you want single cable operation.



For $95, the Reolink CX410 should have no right to showcase such detailed, impactful video performance. But somehow, it does, pairing a 2K QHD 4MP resolution with ColorX Vision technology to create video quality that’s extremely hard to come across in this price range. The Reolink CX410 requires little in the way of ambient lighting to capture full color images, making it a great option for users who don’t have or want to install exterior floodlights to monitor in low-light conditions. If you want your camera to be discreet at night, you’re not going to be disappointed. Honestly, this level of quality by itself already makes the juice worth the squeeze.